How can this be done without expanding Thailand's monetary base too rapidly and risking too much inflation?

"The best thing to do is probably to keep doing what the Chinese are doing," said James McCormack, senior director at Fitch Ratings in Hong Kong. To keep its currency pegged to the dollar, China buys dollars coming into the country, paying with newly minted currency, which in turn pushes down the yuan's value. To stem the inflationary impact of the increase in money supply, the central bank issues bonds, borrowing back the yuan it had issued. This process helped swell China's foreign currency reserves to more than $1 trillion in October.

Other Asian central banks already pursue this policy to some extent as well. Japan has $897 billion in reserves, Taiwan has $265 billion, and South Korea has amassed $234 billion in reserves as the countries try to keep their own currencies from rising and thus eroding the competitiveness of exported cars and electronics. Foreign-exchange reserves in Thailand have risen to $62.3 billion.

So I hope that the professionals with the Bank of Thailand adopt this method. In the meanwhile, the currency speculators can go elsewhere in the world in their search for a quick profit.

Dan Stephan

Chiang Mai

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Proper taxation of the SET may lend some credibility

Capital-gains tax is not the answer on the SET; a transaction tax on day trading is. The SET regulators and their advisors should consider a small tax on short-term trading, not a capital-gains tax on profits. The same was very successfully introduced by the Indian regulators in 2004, and the same is in place successfully in many countries.

The tax is collected by the stock exchange from the local brokers and passed on to the exchequer, thereby enabling the authorities to raise revenue in a neat and efficient manner.

The problem on the SET remains that it has a casino trading reputation and far too many responsible investors just stay away, to their own peril. And for the most part the local broker community refuses to re-invent itself by indirectly nurturing day-trading rather than long term investing. So be it, but let the day traders pay some small transaction tax so the regulators and the SET have a higher budget with which to educate the masses on the high merits of long-term SET investing, which is not at all the same as day trading, as day trading is always a speculative activity. This transaction tax could be levied on, say, any buy or sell on the same stock which occurs before the settlement date.

For too long the SET has been dominated by speculators, and it's high time it evolved into something more, as it deserves more. A small tax on day trading could help it get there.

Paul A Renaud

Zurich, Switzerland

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US forces have achieved much to be proud of in Iraq

The Baker-Hamilton Iraq Study Group report shouldn't be allowed to obscure what our soldiers have accomplished in the Middle East.

Most importantly, America's determined military response to terrorism has painted in bold strokes the clear consequences for foreign leaders who would provide refuge to terrorists and has demonstrated us to be anything but the paper tigers or passive victims some would have us.

And because of us, news photos of enfranchised grandmothers standing before ballot boxes with proudly purpled thumbs are now forever part of Muslim consciousness and will rise to confront any who seek a return to the past in Iraq, Afghanistan and beyond. Neither Islam's anti-democratic elements nor others elsewhere who rail reflexively against America will ever efface those images.

That Iraqis now struggle to put an "Iraqi face" on the democracy our resolve has birthed perhaps isn't as incongruous as it may appear. Isn't accompanying factional strife the norm for emerging democracies rather than the exception? And doesn't a "free" Kurdistan already stand out as a success, sheltering a people whose sufferings too long eluded world attention?

There will always be those who despair when our existence as a free people requires us to take up arms in defence; the bounty of our virtue is that we can still produce generations willing to answer that call.

Ron Goodden

Atlanta, Georgia

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Murder of Lao Hmong must be fully investigated

The most recent murder of Lao Americans and Lao of long-time residence in Thailand must be addressed.

When speaking of Laotians I also include Hmong and Hmong Americans in this group. Few of these things could take place without the complicity of some Thai authorities. In some cases long-time Thai and US intelligence assets have been murdered when those assigned to protect them "went to lunch".

Those who participate, in conjunction with bellicose foreign regimes, may have not got the word yet: there is a new sheriff in town, and one suspects the murder of long-time allies of this country and visiting tourists, regardless of their politics, will not be met with a blind eye. It is time to drop the hammer on those on all borders in the North and Northeast who have sold people to be killed by other countries.

Recently these people have not been shoved into bags at night and been sold to be shot on the other side, but have been shot in broad daylight in Thailand.

As to refugees, here is a problem few address: trying to figure out who is a refugee and who is a "sent agent" is no small chore. Perhaps missing a few lunches with the boys from the other side is called for.

Major Mark A Smith (US Army, Retired)

Bangkok

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Experience is no guarantee of correct decision-making

Re: "CNS must live up to expectations, Opinion, 21 December 21.

The new government is indeed in danger of being seen as less than competent in how it is tackling matters of great significance to the kingdom. The recent debacle with the baht, which brought chaos to the markets, added to the two-digit lottery confusion and the shambles of the alcohol advertising and control legislation, suggests that Cabinet members may lack practical real-world ability.

No one doubts their knowledge and experience. However, in a complex world where action creates a reaction that is beyond the direct control of those who initiate that action, such policy decisions must be correct first time. If not, then the situation hurtles out of control.

The world we now live in does not show any deference to age or experience: it is cruelly meritocratic and does not tolerate error in any form.

Dr John Symons

Bangkok

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Opposition to alcohol bill is a wake-up call to the govt

Re: "Mongkol fears for alcohol bill", News, December 19.

The Health Minister needs to consider carefully why his bill is facing possible collapse. It is clear that he has failed to gain substantive support from those it purports to protect. He needs to ponder carefully how he approaches his job. An authoritarian 'I-know-best' attitude is clearly unacceptable to the Thai people. He has learnt a bitter lesson that others in this Cabinet should heed: that in a democracy you must have the support of the people to govern.

This Cabinet may be highly experienced, but if they believe their great knowledge entitles them to simply tell the public what to do, they will learn the same harsh lesson that Minister Mongkol is presently enduring.

Writers in your columns have stressed the importance of education as a methodology in changing people's behaviour. Equipping them to make valid life choices is both practical and reasonable in a democracy as it requires no expensive external policing or enforcement by regulations. It becomes self-enforcing and is how things are done in mature democracies.

If this early fiasco causes a change in the way other ministers approach their responsibilities then Minister Mongkol's humiliation will have been a worthwhile learning experience for the whole Cabinet.

Dr John Patterson

Bangkok

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Make the Foreign Business Act fair and competitive

In deciding how to change, or even scrap, the Foreign Business Act, we should put blinding emotions aside and follow one of Stephen Covey's "7 Habits of Highly Effective People": "Begin with the end (goal) in mind."

It's obvious from the 14,000 or so alleged nominee companies that the 30-year-old Act has been abysmally ineffective and has outlived its usefulness. For example, the goal of the Act's List 3, banning foreigners from activities in which Thais are not ready to compete (eg accounting, law, or advertising), presumably is to promote competition. If so, that aim could be achieved far more effectively by, say, limiting the share of any one company, or group of firms acting in concert, in a given percentage of the market. This cap would apply to each stage of a given channel of distribution, so that a firm couldn't form a conglomerate of, say, distributors, and the law would apply regardless of the nationality of the companies involved. There would be heavy penalties for violation of such anti-monopoly laws, perhaps along the lines of those provided by the US' Sherman Antitrust Act.

Let's foster competition, but effectively and without being blinded by jingoism.

Burin Kantabutra

Bangkok